Meet Amish Author Laura V. Hilton

I'm excited to host Laura V. Hilton on the blog today! She is one of my critique partners, so I am thrilled to be able to welcome her to Stitches Thru Time. 

Laura V. Hilton is an award-winning, sought-after author with almost twenty Amish, contemporary,

and historical romances. When she’s not writing, she reviews books for her blogs, and writes devotionals for blog posts for Seriously Write and Putting on the New.

Laura and her pastor-husband have five children and a hyper dog named Skye. They currently live in Arkansas. One son is in the U.S. Coast Guard. She is a pastor’s wife, and homeschools her two youngest children.

When she’s not writing, Laura enjoys reading, and visiting lighthouses and waterfalls. Her favorite season is winter, her favorite holiday is Christmas.

 

Welcome Laura! We're so glad you could visit us today. Where did the inspiration for your story come from?   

Simply put, from God. Bethany was a very minor character in three of my books set in Jamesport, Missouri (all stand-alone books) and I had a blurb I proposed to my publisher. When it came time to write the story I prayed about it and waited for him to give me the opening sentence.  Sometimes, it comes right away. Sometimes, it takes a little longer. So, my girls and I had to go to the county seat for some reason and we were listening to the radio. One of the lines of one of the songs that played said “The sky is falling and I’m searching for someplace to hide.”  I scribbled it down on a paper and that became my opening line. I started writing. I don’t plot, I just see where the story goes. And it turned out that I was writing a story loosely based on my Amish grandparents story.

What is your main character’s greatest fear?   

Without giving anything away – another person.

What was the most fun thing about writing this story?  

 The bits of humor that found its way in. And Bethany  has wanted to tell her story since the beginning when she made a one-time appearance in The Snow Globe. She patiently waited… until it was her turn in Amish Wanderer

How does your faith and spirituality work in with your writing? 

 I couldn’t write without faith and spirituality. They are such an important part of my life, they are who and what I am. And what I am about. Him. So He brings in the faith message and usually when it comes out, is “Wow.” It is so amazing how God works.

What is your favorite thing about writing Amish romance? 

 It is such a fun sub-genre to write!  It can be contemporary romance, women’s fiction, historical fiction, suspense…. Etc, depending on the author.  So far, mine are all contemporary romance. Plus, I get to explore my family history as I write.

What are you working on next?  

I am currently writing an Amish novella that will come out around Thanksgiving.  Then I am writing a contemporary romance novella, also coming out in November. After that is (hopefully) a full-length Amish novel that will come out in fall of 2018.

I've had a sneak peek at that novella too, and readers are going to LOVE it! Thank you so much for being with us! 

About Laura's book:

Bethany Weiss has been fascinated by Silas Beiler since he spent a couple of years in Jamesport, Missouri, before he and his family moved to another Amish community. They hadn’t kept in touch, but she hasn’t forgotten the friendly young man who brought her lemonade and took her home once from a Singing years ago. When she finds a man sleeping in her family’s barn, like Jesus sleeping in the hay, she is stunned to recognize Silas. He’s left the Amish and is backpacking across the country. She talks him into staying, at least until after Christmas.

Silas’ family has never been happy living in one area for long, and their vagabond ways are wearing on him. He’s lived in Amish communities all over the nation, moving whenever his daed became disgruntled with the leaders, and he’s looking for some sense of stability. His intentions are to make it back to Pennsylvania and stay with his Englisch onkle and his family—and pursue an education. Will Bethany be the one to bring Silas in from the cold? Or will he continue on his way to his extended family and become Englisch?